Also known as: purchasers for value · bona fide purchaser for value
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who acquires an interest in property or contractual rights by giving valuable consideration. The status typically requires payment of more than nominal value and often good faith without notice of prior claims. This position receives protection against certain prior interests.
Pedro Pacheco and Pioneer Energy signed a supply contract that both believed contained a flexible delivery schedule. A mutual drafting error inserted a rigid timeline instead. When Pedro seeks reformation, the court grants it because no third party acquired rights under the mistaken writing for value.
Peter Park purchased three paintings from a gallery for $35,000. The works had been stolen decades earlier from their original owner. Peter asserts that his payment of value shields him from the owner's replevin claim.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Pablo Perez acquired a gouache from an art dealer years after its theft from a museum collection. The museum later located the piece and demanded its return. Pablo defends on the ground that his payment of value and lack of notice make him a protected holder against the earlier claim.
No. Under notice statutes a subsequent purchaser for value without notice prevails over an earlier unrecorded interest regardless of whether the later purchaser records first. The key requirements remain payment of value and absence of notice at the time of purchase.
No. Recording statutes protect only those who give valuable consideration. Donees, devisees, and heirs receive property without paying value and therefore cannot claim the protections afforded to purchasers for value against prior unrecorded interests.
No. Courts may reform a writing to correct a mutual mistake except to the extent that rights of third parties such as good faith purchasers for value would be unfairly affected. The presence of such a purchaser blocks reformation that would prejudice the protected interest.
Supporting sources
Generally no unless the mortgagee gives new consideration such as surrendering other security or extending the time for payment. A mortgage taken solely for an antecedent debt without fresh value does not qualify the mortgagee as a purchaser for value.
…we are presented for purposes of this appeal with the classic confrontation between a true owner of property and a subsequent bona fide purchaser for value, each of whom is relatively innocent and each of whom has been victimized by a thief. The true owner here is the artist who created the paintings, and she seeks to recover them through an…